


maybe we'll take the long way home

by radiowrittenheart



Category: Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1980s, Drabble, F/M, Flashback fic, Heart-to-Heart, Late Night Conversations, Smoking, Swearing, Young Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-10
Updated: 2015-12-10
Packaged: 2018-05-05 22:39:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5392892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radiowrittenheart/pseuds/radiowrittenheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not always were they invincible and unbeatable. Once upon a time, not so long ago, both Brock and Vonnie were vulnerable, especially to each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	maybe we'll take the long way home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [prismasandpie](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=prismasandpie), [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> This is straight up like some shit out of an angsty YA romance novel and I don't care, I love thinking up imagines for these two when they were young. It was about damn time I wrote something for it. (Carly Bae* Jepsen's E-MO-TION album certainly didn't help, with it's wonderful 80's themed music.)
> 
> *That wasn't a typo ;D
> 
> I honestly just wanted an excuse to write young parents and my headcanons for them.

Her lips tasted of the wretched smoke, but her eyes were little pools of caramel. Her hair had all the softness of a thistle bush, yet her skin was so smooth and so pale. Everything was a contrast. Meaningfully rough and unwillingly sweet. He could tell, she was reluctant. So very hesitant.

She was a stranger to being cared for, after all.

Dare either of them realize it, but she had said his name a few times in a soft, maybe love-struck manner. They hadn’t been tangled in any sort of scandalous manner. Just … the two of them. Together.

God, she’d regret this later.

“Von.”

“Yeah, Zero?”

Brock laughed softly. Of course it’d never last.

“Are we gonna keep doing this?” he asked.

“Doing what?” Vonnie asked innocuously, as she laid her head on his shoulder.

She pretended to ignore everything by cuddling up into him once again. She fingered the sleeve of his stupid football jersey - how ironic his number was, it was one, _for fuck’s sake_ \- and refused to make eye contact. She was playing him again. Or rather, she was trying to, like way back when. He whispered her name, full and true, and shook his head. He said it over and over like lyrics in the chorus of a song- _Yvonne, Yvonne, Yvonne_. He tried to smooth down her hair, perhaps as bait to get her attention, and he so desperately wanted their gazes to meet.

But alas.

“This,” Brock finally murmured.

Vonnie very knew well what “this” meant, but she could play stupid very easily.

So she did. “Yeah,” she said slowly. “Still not following you.”

“Can we make it last?” Brock blurted out, his blue eyes fixated on her - as if she was the only thing in this world. “Because… y’know, I - I think… I don’t know, I’m just starting to wonder.”

A frown was taunting her. She wanted to, she could have, but she didn’t.

Instead, a laugh escaped her. “Wonder about what?” she mused.

“Us.”

The word almost made her stiffen up. But, the frown made it’s debut and Vonnie shifted in his loose embrace. She glanced to him very briefly, and let go of his hand, causing an odd distance between them. Brock looked up, definitely confused…

...even more so when she got up, shuffling out of the row of theater seats.

“What?” Brock said, watching her stomp off. “Von, what’d I say?”

She didn’t answer him. Vonnie literally kicked open the doors of the box office, and shuffling her way into the lobby. He gave her a minute, maybe she just had to think. He waited - one, two, three; Brock counted for a little while before he released a groan of frustration, getting up. He hurdled a few of the theater seat rows before heading out.

He stopped in the lobby, noticing Vonnie outside.

She was leaning up against the payphone, running a hand through her hair and rambling. Probably ranting to Mel, as if there was anyone else. Brock lingered for a moment, then winced as he noticed Vonnie slam the phone in it’s place, and she kicked the curb in frustration.

It was both amusing and a little heartbreaking to watch her stomp around in frustration, but Brock wiped that smirk off of his face before he came out. Vonnie shot a look to him over her shoulder and plopped down on the curb, sitting there and wiping her hands on her ripped jeans. It took a bit of courage, but eventually, Brock made his way over.

She didn’t give him an invitation, but she let him sit next to her. So he did, and he simply watched her.

She was fumbling with a cigarette, nearly dropping it onto the ground along with the lighter. However, when she placed it back between her teeth, Brock gently took the lighter from her, setting the cigarette alight. The color of the flame matched her eyes, hidden behind Ozzy glasses. Under her gaze, he always found himself helpless and confused.

How could a stray like herself intimidate anyone and everyone?

Vonnie could barely mumble a “thanks” before she started inhaling the smoke, ignoring the fact he was staring at her, torn between lovestruck and shock.

“What the fuck do you want me to tell you, Brock?” she said, her voice cracking on the profanity … and his name.

It was always “Zero” with the occasional _“sidekick”_ or _“dumbass”_ ; but when Vonnie called him by his name, Brock knew it was serious business. He noticed a single tear trickle down her rosy porcelain cheeks, which summoned him to cautiously scooch over. He was too busy staring at her to focus on what she was saying; it was a heart-wrenching vent of how she was nothing, a street-running orphan, never a true hero.

Once she took a breather from her cigarette, Brock practically yanked her into a kiss.

Vonnie’s eyes went wide, and she went weak, dropping her cigarette, letting it fall into a storm drain. She hesitated, very overcome with emotion from the sudden boldness, but eventually leaned forward to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him closer.

Finally, when they broke apart, Brock sighed, “I’m not asking for forever, Yvonne. I just want to know if I mean something to you.”

“Of course you mean something to me,” Vonnie mumbled. She blinked back tears in her amber eyes, and kicked her combat boot fiercely into the street, leaving a scuff. “I just don’t get why you think I’m so perfect and amazing or … whatever. I’m not the hero you think I am, y’know? I’m still getting my shit together. I've got baggage, and trust me, I don't want you carrying it. I'm a fuckup.”

Of all the stupid things he could do, Brock smiled and nodded. “I know,” he said softly. “That’s what I like about you, Von. You don’t take any shit, and you won’t give any unless someone deserves it. You’re a good person - at least, that’s what I see you as. You… you just have a rough shell, that’s all.”

She couldn’t help but crack a smile and make fun of his dumb analogy; “And you think you’re the one who’s gonna be able to break that shell?”

“Maybe,” Brock replied, giving a halfhearted shrug. “I’ve been trying since I met you.”

Vonnie smirked. “You haven’t gotten very far,” she admitted.

As he twirled her copper curls around his fingers, he smiled. “I think I’ve gotten farther than either of us want to realize,” Brock murmured, his lips less than inches away from hers.

He glanced down, she flickered her eyes up, and for the first time this evening, their gazes truly met and locked. For a moment, Vonnie released a gentle sigh, untangling her arms from around his neck so she could take her hands into his, their shared gaze not breaking once.

“I need you to be my hero, Brock,” she muttered. “Just until I figure this whole thing out, okay?”

He was starstruck, a little surprised, but nodded nonetheless. “Even after that,” he assured. “I promise.”

If it was one thing Vonnie undoubtedly knew about him, it was that Brock never broke a promise. She could only wait for him to prove it.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always appreciated!
> 
> Shout-out to prismasandpie on tumblr for drawing this amazing picture of young hero parents, the dumb dorks. (Young!Vonnie was a bad girl with a shitty past, fight me on this.)
> 
>  


End file.
